Then He Kissed Me: A Cottonbloom Novel by Laura Trentham Read Free Book Online Page B

this side to paint graffiti.”
    “I remember that. They thought some delinquent boys did it.”
    “Nope. It was me.” Regret or not, he could hear a sliver of pride in her voice.
    “What else?”
    “Stole a car.”
    “How old were you?” He popped back up on his elbow, facing her.
    “Fifteen. One of the quilting ladies left her keys in her giant Buick. I drove it about half a block down River Street one Saturday afternoon. I thought I heard sirens, parked it at the curb, and took off running. I was so scared I nearly wet myself.”
    “I never heard anything about it.”
    Her giggles turned into laughter. “That’s what was so funny. It was Ms. Candace. She stared at the empty spot for a while, then bee-bopped down half a block and drove off. I’m pretty sure she thought she’d just forgotten where she parked it.”
    He laughed too, but it faded into a sense of melancholy. Her long dark hair cascaded around her shoulders to pool on the bed. He itched to touch it again. “I feel like I missed out on rites of passage or something.”
    “If you want we can crash the next high school kegger.” A teasing speculation was in her voice.
    “Har-har.”
    “You could go play beer pong with a bunch of football players at the college or something.” Her teasing turned more contemplative. “Actually, why not relive your youth?”
    “I’m about a decade too late for that.”
    “For the high school kegger, yes. But we could get a little bit wild. Do things that scare us a little. Might be fun.”
    “Like what?” He wasn’t sure he liked where she was headed, but knew he’d follow her anyway.
    “We could climb the water tower, go floating down the river with a cooler of beer, stay out all night, steal a car.”
    “I’m a professor and you’re a business owner. If we get caught—” He shook his head.
    “We can skip the felony carjacking if you want.” The laughter lightening her voice reminded him of the old Tally.
    The dim shadows made it difficult to get a read on her. Was she serious or teasing him? Sketching a list of pros and cons in his head, he determined the cons way outnumbered the pros, but one pro outweighed everything: getting to spend more time with her.
    “Have you ever been skinny-dipping?” he asked.
    Her intake of breath was audible, and on the exhale, she said, “Once or twice. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Have you?”
    Her Star Wars reference might have amused him if he wasn’t picturing water streaming over her naked body. “Nope. But I want to.” And suddenly, desperately he did. As long as it was with her. He didn’t want to give her a chance to say it was all a joke. “How about this? We both make a list of stuff we never got the chance to do. Then, we’ll tackle the lists together.”
    “I wouldn’t have anything to put on a list.” Her voice was wary. “I thought this was for you.”
    “Come on. At least, come up with a couple of things so I don’t feel like a complete loser. You didn’t go to any school dances, right?”
    “Good grief, Nash. You are the opposite of a loser. You have a PhD for goodness sake. I barely got my high school diploma. If we’re comparing, I’m the loser.” In stark contrast to her tough-girl, wild exterior, a vulnerability wove through her words.
    This side of her destroyed his common sense and tapped into his own insecurities. Unable to help himself, he wrapped his finger around a swath of her hair that had fallen forward over her shoulder. “You were a genius with numbers. You had to help me a time or two with my long division if I’m not mistaken.”
    She plopped backward, her hair passing through his fingers like silk. “I’m no genius. I used to wonder if I was adopted or something.”
    He dropped his head to his pillow, but stayed on his side, facing her. Reaching out, he tipped her face toward his with a finger. “Don’t sell yourself short, Tallulah.”
    She took his hand and tangled their fingers, letting them